Hollywood owners’ cheeky dig in poor taste after Spygate scandal
Wrexham’s Hollywood owners have taken a cheeky dig at their next Championship opponents Southampton, mocking the club’s infamous “spygate” scandal they were embroiled in last season.
Southampton was docked four points and sensationally kicked out from the play-offs after a club intern was caught observing semi-final opponents Middlesbrough.
Rob Mac and Ryan Reynolds poke fun at Southampton’s spygate scandal. @Wrexham_AFC
Investigations later revealed similar incidents took place at Oxford United and Ipswich Town earlier in their campaign.
The scandal quickly went viral, largely due to an infamous photo of the intern attempting to hide behind a tree.
Capitalising on the scandal to promote Wrexham’s front-of-shirt sponsor Firefox, co-owners Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney appeared in a skit on the club’s X page, making light of the play-off drama.
In the video, the duo emerge from behind a tree, joking about searching the internet for “how to run a football club”.
“Today, for no particular reason, we want to talk about the importance of privacy,” Reynolds says.
“Specifically, how to prevent spies from seeing what you’re doing,” McElhenney adds.
The pair then declare that privacy is “important to people everywhere,” pointedly name-dropping Middlesbrough, Oxford and Ipswich.
Reynolds concludes the bit by saying, “Refreshing, huh? An organisation that actually respects your privacy.”
While the English Football League has not officially commented, BBC Sport reported that senior figures within the organisation viewed the social media stunt as being in poor taste.
Southampton head coach Tonda Eckert was similarly unimpressed when asked about the video during his pre-match press conference.
“I’ve seen it last night and it doesn’t change anything,” Eckert said.
"You can imagine that the whole situation is not particularly funny for me, but I think that's all there is to say."
The two sides face off on Sunday (AEST).
Heading into the match, Wrexham sits 19th in the Championship standings after seven games, while Southampton has climbed to ninth on 10 points, having successfully overcome their early season penalty deduction.
